And It Starts Sometime Around Midnight
by annam8td
Summary: Lance and the brotherhood spend their New Year's Eve in a club, and he runs into an unexpected clubgoer. R R please


A/N: I thought I'd take a new approach to the Lancitty relationship. I own nothing, because Marvel made the characters and The Airborne Toxic Event wrote the song

**And it starts...  
sometime around midnight  
or at least that's when  
you lose yourself  
for a minute or two**

"Hurry up, slow pokes!" Pietro calls as he "walks" towards the club entrance. Lance, Wanda, Fred and Todd follow, tired from trying to keep up with their speed demon-friend. "It's almost eleven!" he cries, rushing inside. The group stops to catch their breath before walking into the congested building.

"Hey you, Wanda!" Todd asks, gasping for air. "When that clock strikes midnight, am I finally gonna get my kiss?" He stares at the slender woman dressed in vinyl, gothic attire with hungry eyes. She glares at him though her dark lashes and red bangs. "When that clock strikes midnight, you had better be as far away from me as possible," she spits venomously before walking in after her brother.

"I don't know why I let you guys drag me here," Lance says, staring at the entrance as Todd hops into the building, leaving Fred and Lance outside. "Because," Fred explains, "we can't stand the thought of you being alone on New Years. Just because you don't have Kitty doesn't mean you can't have fun."

Lance shrugs at the mention of his ex-girlfriend, and agrees with his friend. The two walk into the club, Fred sucking in his stomach to avoid getting stuck in the doorway.

**As you stand...  
under the barlights  
and the band plays some song  
about forgetting yourself for a while  
and the piano's this melancholy sound check  
to her smile  
And that white dress she's wearing  
you haven't seen her  
for a while  
**

Entering the building, Lance makes a b-line through the crowd to the bartender. He orders a beer, and tries to find his friends faces amidst the sea of people. No luck; the bar looks like it's packed from wall to wall with people celebrating New Year's Eve. He listens to the band playing on a stage at the other side of the room, and growls in disgust. For the umpteenth time in his life, Lance is listening to a band singing about how someone forgot who they were, blah blah blah. He takes another drink from his bottle.

"Hey there Lance," Pietro says, popping up out of nowhere minutes later. "I don't wanna put a damper on your fabulous night," he says with a sarcastic chuckle, "but I guess we got X-Men here tonight." Lance coughs mid-drink. Pietro hands him a napkin.

"Why are you telling me?" Lance asks angrily. His silver-haired companion sighs, and explains that as much as he would like to mess with the other mutants he would prefer to not have his night ruined. Lance nods and Pietro pats his friend on the back before dashing off somewhere.

Before he can turn around to face the bartender once more, he sees them. The natural red head holding the hand of her sun-glasses clad boyfriend, a pale girl with white bangs walking arm in arm with her Cajun suitor, the elf wearing his image inducer to conceal his blue fuzzy features, his dark skinned-date, a few other mutants from the Xavier Institute, and her. Kitty Pryde takes off her jacket to reveal a white dress—Lance's favorite on her—and runs her fingers through her hair, which is shorter now with the same long tendrils in the front.

Lance groans as though he's being tortured.

**  
But you know...  
that she's watching  
She's laughing, she's turning  
she's holding her tonic like a crux  
The room suddenly spinning  
she walks up and asks how you are  
so you can smell her perfume  
you can see her lying naked in your arms  
**

He can't turn around. He can't risk seeing her, knowing that he can't have her. Lance hears the group talking, and glances over his shoulder. Kitty twirls for her friends, her dress moving like a white mist around her. She and her friends make their way to the bar, and they stand near Lance. He turns his face in the other direction, hoping that they won't realize it's him. Kitty laughs, her sweet laugh that always made him feel good. He gets the attention of the bartender, and orders himself something stronger than beer. _This is just not my night. _The bartender hands Lance his drink, and hands a few drinks to the group next to him.

"We're gonna go dance," Kurt announces in his German accent, "See you guys later." One by one the group disappears, until only Rogue, her companion, and Kitty remain. "Like, you two should go dance. I'm gonna stick around here for a minute," Kitty suggests. The other two don't argue, and soon there's no one standing between Kitty and Lance. He looks over, sees her moving towards him, Blood Mary in hand.

"Um, hi Lance," she says awkwardly, twisting her celery stick and looking at the ground. "Hi, Kitty," he says, downing the rest of his drink. He flags the bartender down and asks for another beer.

"So," Kitty says, leaning against the bar, "Like, how have you been?" Lance takes a swig of his beer, feeling the alcohol starting to calm him. "I've been alright," he says, looking her up and down. Her short auburn hair looks brighter under the club lights, her creamy complexion looks softer, and her white dress—strapless with a fitted golden waistband and a skirt flowing to her knees—looks phenomenal. She looks phenomenal.

"You seem good," he states dryly. She rubs the edge of her skirt, and looks up at him with her big blue eyes. "Yeah, I've been" she stares at her drink, as though the word she's looking for is floating amongst the tomato juice, "alright." He nods. Kitty takes a sip of her drink, sets it on the counter, and places her hand on his arm. "It's good to see you," she says. He nods, mutters a "you too" and notices a scent in the air that isn't tinged with the burn of alcohol; Sweet pea.

He remembers when he first smelled this scent. The two had just spent a romantic night together, and after holding each other closely, Kitty went through her purse, pulls out a small bottle, and sprayed it all over herself. Lance almost gagged on the little droplets, but felt as though it suited her; strong with a sweet presence.

Kitty walks away, leaving Lance's arm to tingle where her hand was just moments ago.

**  
And so there's a change...  
in your emotions  
and all of these memories come rushing  
like feral waves to your mind  
of the curl of your bodies  
like two perfect circles entwined  
and you feel hopeless, and homeless  
and lost in the haze  
of the wine  
**

He is no longer bored, but lonely. Moments from their relationship flood to his mind: the night he came to the Xavier Institute to become an X-Man, to become closer to Kitty, their first public outing at Bayville High's Sadie Hawkins Dance, where she admit that being with him wasn't as bad as everyone would have thought, when she kissed him in the Danger Room, when he and his friends hijacked an airplane to Mexico so he could fight Apocalypse at her side, and other moments that make him blush.

For the thousandth time since the two broke up, Lance wishes she would come back to his side. He scans the dance floor for her, and when he finally spots her, he's not too fond of what he's seeing: his pretty Kitty is dancing a little too close to some guy with bulging muscles and short dark hair. Her smile radiates, his heart sinks, and the music dies down.

"Alright everyone, it's almost Midnight," the DJ announces, and starts a countdown from 10. 9. 8. 7. 6. 5. 4. 3. 2. 1. Cheers!

Lance downs the rest of his beer, sarcastically telling himself to have a Happy New Year.

**  
And she leaves...  
with someone you don't know  
but she makes sure you saw her  
she looks right at you and bolts  
As she walks out the door  
your blood boiling  
your stomach in ropes  
and when your friends say what is it  
you look like you've seen a ghost  
**

Lance resolves at that moment to tell Kitty that he still loves her. He watches her move through the crowd, waits for the right moment to jump out of his seat and tell her. God how he's missed her. She grabs her coat from the check out, and he decides to make his move. Walking across the floor, Lance tells himself that this might not be the best idea, but the alcohol is telling him otherwise.

He stops a few feet from her, when the muscle guy from the dance floor walks up behind her. She smiles at the new guy, and Lance stands frozen. Some of the X-Men walk up to Kitty, and Lance hears her say that she's leaving with the other guy, Peter. She glances over her shoulder as she puts her jacket on, makes eye contact with Lance. Then she and Peter walk out together, arms linked.

Lance just stands stunned, anger coursing through his veins and a knot twisting in his stomach. He wants to go back to the bar, to drink away what he just saw, but his body stands frozen in place.

"Hey Lance, Happy New Year." Wanda greets, walking up to her friend, a beer in each hand. "What's wrong?" she asks as she hands him one of the drinks. Lance accepts the drink, but doesn't respond. Soon Fred, Todd and Pietro meet up with the rest of the group, all concerned about their friend. "Dude," Todd days, waving a hand in front of Lance's face, "you look like you've seen a ghost." Lance puts the bottle to his lips and chugs the contents.

"Worse," Pietro whispers to his friends as Lance walks out of the club, "he looks like he saw Pryde."

**  
And you walk...  
under the streetlights  
and you're too drunk to notice  
that everyone is staring at you  
and you so care what you look like  
the world is falling  
around you  
**

Lance walks on the sidewalk, unsure of his direction. He just wants to get away from the club, from what he saw. He walks by pedestrians who stare at him because of his drunken walk, and because he is talking to himself. Pietro catches up to his friend and tries to calm him down. "Lance," he says, only to be passed by. "Lance, come on. You look like a crazy person!" "I don't care," Lance shouts over his shoulder.

"Look, you can't be mad because she's moved on. Need I remind you that you broke up with her?" Enraged, Lance grabs the collar of his friend's shirt and glares at him. "Shut up Pietro." The speed demon pulls his friend's hands off of him, and places them at his side. "I'm just saying that you can't break up with the girl you love, claim that it's 'for the best', and then get upset when you see her living her life!"

Lance shrugs, knowing his friend is right, though he will never admit it. "Now come on, buddy. Let's go back home."

**  
You just have to see her  
You just have to see her  
You just have to see her  
You just have to see her  
You just have to see her  
**

Lance continues his drunken mumbling even while Todd was chosen to be the driver of Lance's Jeep. He mumbles about Kitty being so sweet when she was in high school, that she was so beautiful tonight. He says that seeing her tonight made him realize that he misses her, and that he'll probably never get her back. He curses that stupid Peter, threatening him if he hurts his pretty Kitty. His loneliness almost makes him wanna cry.

**and you know that she'll break you  
in two**

A/N: Ending could have been better, but I still think it's good


End file.
